Beauty and the Beast
by Starsurfer108
Summary: AU: Loki won at the end of the Thor movie, and he makes good on his threat to Thor to 'visit' Jane. Odin's still asleep. And I'm assuming the gold trident can also do mind control. Gets rather dark at points. ONESHOT. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Jane tossed and turned in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position. It was a hot and stormy night, and it didn't help that every strike of lightning and thunder not only triggered her natural dislike of shocks, but each time she couldn't help eagerly looking around, hoping that Thor had returned. Sighing, she threw off the bedcovers and sat up, rubbing her face and putting a hand through her matted hair.

There was a figure in the darkness at the foot of her bed. Her heart leapt as she pushed herself up, but the next crackle of lightning revealed that it was not Thor. Rather a thinner man, dressed in green, with gold embellishments and a golden trident, looking at her with eyes of a tiger.

"Who- who are you?"

"I am Loki, Ruler of Asgard. You knew my brother, Thor."

Jane smiled, relieved. "Oh! Well, any friend of Thor's is a friend of mine," she said, tiny laughs embellishing her words.

Loki cocked his head. "Are those the words of a virtuous woman?"

The smile melted from Jane's face. That was an odd response. Her breathing quickened as she looked at him warily.

Loki started pacing slowly around the room. "He talked so highly of you. I just had to come and see you." He had a smiling and jovial manner, but there was something cold about his eyes. Jane instinctively pulled the bedsheets over her again, covering her nightie from his gaze. She was still sitting up on her bed.

"Does he know you're here?" she asked, a quaver in her voice. A moment later she regretted asking that, as it revealed that she was scared of him. But it's not as if she could hide it well, anyway.

"Oh yes," replied Loki emphatically. "I told him I would see you."

Jane's face dropped and tears formed in her eyes as the pain of Thor not wanting to see her hit her like a ton of bricks. If Loki could come, then logically Thor could also visit if he wanted to. "I-I see," she said softly, now oblivious to Loki's threat.

Loki narrowed his eyes, not liking the lack of attention. "You see, my brother was a bit of a womanizer, and he spoke very highly of you, mortal. You should be quite flattered. And he basically invited me to come here."

"What?" Jane gasped. "N-no, I don't-"

"Would you waste my time in coming here?" Loki asked testily.

"Please, I'm so sorry, but there's some mistake. I really didn't mean to-"

"You mortals need to learn your place," said Loki, a hard edge to his voice, as he advanced towards her, stopping at the side of her bed.

Jane was beside herself. "N-no!" she begged, shaking her head, clasping her bed covers tighter.

"Would you refuse a god?" asked Loki seriously, pressuring her, fully knowing she was against it.

Jane whimpered, not knowing what to do. She tensed as Loki pulled the bedcovers away from her, scared stiff.

Loki eyed her up and down. "You are very beautiful," he said, as he reached out to touch her arm. Jane reacted as if his hands were hot coals, and pulled away, which angered Loki. With a shout, he roughly pushed her down to the bed. Frantic, she started kicking and screaming and only stopped when she realised her hands and head were pinned by Loki's golden trident that was resting on her lengthways.

"Please. I didn't mean to disrespect your race, but I know that Thor wouldn't be happy if this occurred, even if I was a one-off to him. I don't want him to hurt you-"

"Thor's dead!" snapped Loki. "He won't be coming for you," he added with a flourish and a cruel smile.

Jane gasped. She could hardly breathe from the news. Tears flowed freely down her face. But she was furious now, as well – despite her natural tendency to think well of others, her instincts told her that Loki was fully an enemy of Thor. For all she knew, he could have caused Thor's death. And now, she'd do anything in her power to avenge him.

Loki raised the sceptre and two golden beams of light tied her hands to the bed head. Loki looked down at her triumphantly.

Jane was enraged. At the loss of her love, her self-preservation instincts went out the window. "Is this how you bed all your women?"

Loki huffed, a reaction too intense to be impartial. "There are _thousands_ of women who would consider this an honour."

Jane let out a small puff of air and a muted chuckle, rolling her eyes, showing her disbelief. Loki's face showed no sign of humour at her insolence. Jane's face only showed more determination as she enraged the beast.

A corner of Loki's mouth curled up for a split second as he savoured going in for the kill. "I was going to be gentle with you. But now I think it better that you are degraded and humiliated. You will be controlled to do my every whim and beg for more!" He raised his sceptre over her heart.

"You think controlling my body is controlling me? You don't have the _power_ to control _me_," she spat. She saw the vein in the middle of his forehead start to throb. She may not have wanted to f*ck him, but mind-f*ck was definitely on the menu.

Loki let out a long "ooh" and shook his head, warning her she had gone too far. "You would do better to remain silent and obedient, girl. Now I will not control your body – you will have to control yourself to do my every whim. Else I will torture your precious Dr. Selvig and your stupid friend," he threatened through gritted teeth.

Jane was not quashed in the slightest. "How ironic that you think that you are superior to me by using the bonds I have with my friends to control me – bonds that you could _never_ have yourself," she snarled.

Loki looked undone for a second as her ferocious words hit a deep wound in him. He had always felt like an outsider, and combined with always wanting to be included, it was a subtly cruel upbringing. Like looking through a glass window, never being able to reach it. But back to her - it was like she was temporarily insane, continually goading him. And even worse, she would consider it a victory if he had to resort to violence to subdue her rather than through psychology. He gritted his teeth in frustration, disbelief on his face that a mortal could affect him so.

Jane knew she had gotten to him, and the feeling was addictive. "Perhaps you are out of your depth."

He was looking at her incredulously, and his anger showed that she was beyond the point of no return. Oh well, she was going to make her death as enjoyable as possible. She wasn't going to allow him to control her, and she knew that infuriated him.

"What _exactly_ do you want?" she demanded, calling him out on his silence.

"I deserve complete domination of everything my idiotic brother had – no matter how insignificant!" he spat.

"Oooh, yes, he told me about you," Jane taunted. "And this was exactly the kind of barbaric and uncouth thing you would try to do." Well, that wasn't true at all, but hit 'em where it hurts. She could see that he prided himself on being above his peers. Jane had always been a bad liar, and she expected his wrath for trying to fool him.

"What else did my brother say?" Loki said instinctively, rattled from her words.

In a flash, she saw him in all his wretchedness, his loneliness. Despite her better judgment, she relented.

"Actually, I lied. He never said that."

Loki's eyes bugged out, and his mouth fell partially open. He looked like he was in a state of shock – whether from falling from Jane's lie, or the fact she'd admit it, she didn't know.

She sensed his conundrum. "You can trust me."

"What?"

"You can trust me," she said softly. "I won't be giving you my body, but I want to be your friend."

He stood aback for a second and observed her reactions closely. "Friend? And what would I gain from having a stupid mortal as a friend?"

"Do I look stupid?" she replied, gazing strongly back at him, ignoring the fact her hands were tied, she was in her nightgown and her face was probably all blotchy from the tears.

Loki's eyebrow raised and his forehead creased as a result, her condition obviously not escaping his notice.

He looked like he had no idea how to reply, so she continued.

"You'd gain a friend. A real friend. Someone who shares your sorrows and your happiness. Someone who doesn't want anything in return." Eh, sometimes she was too compassionate for her own good. But she didn't have anything to lose at this point.

He was surveying her, looking for any signs of fallacy.

"I have decided to suspend my judgment," he commanded, and with a flourish of his cape, left her room. The golden bonds disappeared.

He'd looked confused and exhausted – she didn't know whether she had truly reached him, but she was glad for the momentary reprieve.

END

(A/N I think I'd end it here because I wanted Jane to have gotten to Loki – and talking him out of something like this is quite a feat! So it's meant to end here... but next chapter is WAFFy rather out-of-character ThorxJane epilogue – read on if you want that. Why am I such a sucker for happy endings? xD )


	2. Chapter 2

Jane took a deep breath in. Surprisingly, she had slept rather well, falling asleep quickly from exhaustion. She could hear movement from the kitchen downstairs, and lost no time in putting on her dressing gown to follow the source. She still wasn't quite awake, but considering the circumstances, perhaps it would work in her favour considering how headstrong she could be at times.

"Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," he replied rather cordially, but he had a tired and confused look on his face. He hadn't looked like he'd slept at all.

Jane checked that she remained open and receptive to him, but the pain of Thor's death was still with her, and was something she could not mask. And she was too tired to think about her personal wellbeing at the moment.

An uncomfortable silence settled on them both.

"I hope you don't mind, but I thought I would look for some food," Loki said rather smoothly.

"O-of course."

Loki resumed his search of the cupboards. Jane could see that he hadn't made up his mind about what he was going to do to her, so was treading water by being polite.

Suddenly she realised where he was looking. "No, not that one!"

But it was too late – the cupboard above the stove emptied its contents of old, unwashed bowls straight onto Loki's head.

Jane giggled as an automatic response.

Loki looked at her murderously for the slight.

"No, no – I'm sorry – it's no big deal, I swear!" She placed one of the bowls on her own head, gesturing with her hands in a "ta-da" way.

Hearing no response, she removed the bowl and glanced up at him. He was no longer angry – rather, he looked confused and scared at her behaviour. Obviously he was upper-class, and was taught from birth to act regally. But he looked pacified that she'd meant no serious insult before.

Jane found clean bowls for both of them and they ate together in rather subdued silence. It wasn't comfortable, but she wasn't stressing about it, either.

Suddenly she heard footsteps outside the door, and it flung open.

"Jane! I am returned!"

Thor rushed through the door, only to stand still as he saw Jane and Loki together at the breakfast table. Both of them looked surprised to see him.

"So you escaped the black hole, I see," mused Loki.

Thor ignored his words, but his expressions turned from disbelief, to anger, to hurt at the sight of them together.

"I see I am unwelcomed," and he turned to leave.

"No! Wait!" pleaded Jane, looking to Loki desperately.

Loki pursed his lips. "I was going to bed her but she talked me out of it," he said rather sheepishly, looking down and to the side.

"What?" said Thor angrily. "Brother, I know you say I'm an idiot, but I am not so stupid to believe _that_."

"It's true," hissed Loki, well aware that the great Loki was undone by a mere mortal girl, which was very painful to his reputation.

Thor stood silently observing him, not quite convinced.

Jane gave Thor a small hug. "It's true, but we're friends now," she said smiling.

"Yes, now we're one big happy family," Loki said dryly, but on some level he seemed content. Maybe it was a lack of his usual angst that gave this impression.

Thor's face showed one of surprise, and then happiness as he realised he was still the object of Jane's affections. They shared a passionate kiss.

"I shall leave now, as I shan't want to waste a delicious breakfast so soon," demanded Loki, sweeping his cape away and rising from the table.

"No, brother – wait," said Thor, breaking the kiss, genuinely wanting to enjoy the peace with Loki. "Please stay."

"You are an idiot," said Loki through gritted teeth, naturally irritated at Thor's lack of shrewdness. "But only an idiot could love me after all this time," he added, relenting and revealing softer feelings.

Thor gave an infectious grin and slapped Loki on the arm in a playful way. "Why, I do believe that is the first compliment you've ever given me, brother," said Thor warmly. Loki looked irritated, and did not reply through great self-restraint.

Loki's gaze turned to Jane. "Jane, you are worthy of my brother," said Loki kindly. Jane beamed. "And I do mean that as a compliment," he added, glancing at Thor.

Thor and Jane laughed.

It was nice. It was nice to suspend old habits, forget the unforgivable acts of the past, and even for a moment, enjoy the family feeling. And if it was one thing Loki could count on, it was Thor's idiocy.


End file.
